FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
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The White House - USA Freedom Corps
Lindsey Kozberg
202-456-7381
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USA Freedom Corps Director Addresses UN General Assembly Plenary Session |
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Today, John Bridgeland, Assistant to the President and Director of the USA Freedom Corps,
delivered remarks to delegates attending a United Nations General Assembly plenary session
to discuss the outcome of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) 2001. During his remarks
(pasted below), John Bridgeland addressed the role of volunteer service in the United States,
and President Bush's efforts to strengthen and expand volunteer service through the USA Freedom
Corps.
To highlight volunteer activities worldwide and encourage more people to join in, the United
Nations General Assembly in 1997 proclaimed 2001 as the International Year of Volunteers. As a
United Nations focal point for the year, the United Nations Volunteers programme aimed to build
on existing networks and seek new areas of advocacy and research to help organizations and
governments boost the impact of volunteers. For additional information, please visit
www.iyv2001.org.
Remarks by USA Freedom Corps Director John Bridgeland at the
United Nations General Assembly Plenary Session
Mr. President, Honored Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am pleased to represent the United
States of America in my remarks before the United Nations General Assembly in support of volunteer
service in the United States and around the globe.
I would like to thank the Points of Light Foundation and the Association of Junior Leagues
International for convening and leading the United States International Year of Volunteers
Steering Committee. Their organizations have provided sustained leadership to bring volunteers
together to meet important community needs throughout the United States and overseas.
It is my pleasure and privilege to speak to you today as a member of President George W.
Bush's administration as Assistant to the President and Director of the USA Freedom Corps.
Each January, the President of the United States addresses the United States Congress to
report to them and to the American people on the state of the union. It is traditional for
the President to present the Members of Congress and the American people with his vision for
how to make that union stronger. In January 2002, President George W. Bush laid out a vision
for a stronger union that was rooted firmly in the power of volunteer service to meet vital
needs and to safeguard the principles of freedom. He issued a call to service to every man,
woman and child in the United States to dedicate at least two years over the course of their
lifetimes to service to America's communities, to America, and to the world. He created the
USA Freedom Corps, the effort I now direct, to help every American answer that call to service
and to foster a culture of service, citizenship and responsibility for decades to come.
The USA Freedom Corps is a coordinating council chaired by President Bush
that oversees the development of government policies that promote, enhance and
support volunteer service. Among our top priorities is reforming and expanding
federally-supported service programs. President Bush has pledged to double the
number of Peace Corps volunteers so that by 2007 approximately 15,000 Americans
will be sharing American compassion abroad. He has also challenged the Peace
Corps to reach more countries around the world, and to expand its services to
include important global needs such as quality housing, through partnerships
with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.
He has also pledged to reform and strengthen domestic programs that support
service by using senior Americans and young Americans to recruit, train and
supervise volunteers around the country through our Corporation for National and
Community Service. And he created new programs that enable individuals to help
their communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies of all kinds,
including threats of terrorism. Through these new federally-supported programs,
Americans are volunteering with police and fire departments, doctors and nurses
are joining in a Medical Reserve Corps, and individuals are being trained to
teach emergency response skills to their neighbors. These Citizen Corps
volunteers will support their police officers and firefighters in times of
earthquake, fire and flood, and in response to crime and terrorism.
The USA Freedom Corps is also working with community-serving organizations
such as hospitals, schools, houses of worship, and other nonprofit
organizations that make up our volunteer infrastructure to help them recruit,
train and utilize millions of volunteers across the United States to deliver
vital community services. We are helping them to evaluate and to improve their
capacity to effectively utilize the talents of volunteers. By supporting
research, developing and disseminating best practices, and creating other
resources that can be used by organizations around the country, the USA Freedom
Corps will cultivate lasting changes in the voluntary sector.
With the help of organizations including the Points of Light Foundation, we
have already created the USA Freedom Corps Volunteer Network, the largest online
clearinghouse of volunteer service opportunities ever established. Individuals
can enter their postal code and their area of interest, such as serving youth,
hunger and homelessness, or education, to find part-time or full-time service
opportunities with more than 60,000 service organizations working in their
hometowns, across the country, and in countries around the world.
Our partnerships also extend to businesses and educational institutions,
and with their help we are working to create changes in human behavior that will
last for decades. Leaders of American businesses have responded to President
Bush's call to service by creating the Business Strengthening America initiative
to engage their employees and consumers in serving others. Member companies
commit to changes in corporate practices, such as offering paid leave to their
employees for volunteer service, sponsoring employee volunteer efforts, and
enlisting consumers in volunteer service though their products and services.
The USA Freedom Corps is also working with the hundreds of thousands of
elementary and secondary schools and colleges and universities around our nation
to help our youth develop habits of service that will last for a lifetime.
Schools can support service by making it a part of academic lessons, or by
sponsoring service activities and volunteer centers as part of the support
structure for students. The United States Department of Education and other
private research organizations have measured increases in youth volunteer
service, and particularly school-assisted volunteer service, over the past
several decades. Researchers are now looking to uncover how those who volunteer
as youth behave as adults. The initial research is very promising for those who
advocate investing in service opportunities for students and youth ? two thirds
of all adults who reported volunteering in the past year in a recent sample
reported that they had also volunteered as youth. These same individuals were
also significantly more likely to be engaged in philanthropic giving to
nonprofit organizations.
Volunteer service also offers American educators a vital opportunity to
teach students about the democratic institutions and fundamental principles that
are the foundations of the United States. While the office I direct is less
than one year old, its mission is part of the fabric of a long tradition of
volunteer service in the United States. Volunteer-based organizations and the
efforts of the volunteers who power them have played an important role in
meeting the needs of urban and rural communities since our nation was founded.
Yet too few of America's students are learning about our rich history and the
democratic principles and institutions that safeguard their freedoms. Through
service to others, we seek to help them connect their service to communities
today with the ideas and actions of the past that have helped to shape our
national identity.
We also seek to reverse what has been a decline in overall volunteer
service and civic participation in the United States among adults by shaping new
generations that are more likely to be involved in meeting our future
challenges. According to research on volunteer service and civic participation,
fewer and fewer American adults have been volunteering their time and
participating in civic activities over the past three decades. To accomplish
our mission and to reach President Bush's goals, the USA Freedom Corps must
reverse that trend.
To measure the effectiveness of our efforts, the USA Freedom Corps has
partnered with the United States Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor
Statistics to create a new national volunteer service indicator to measure
volunteer behavior from a nationwide sample of more than 60,000 diverse American
households. The nationwide survey will create a reliable and comprehensive
measurement of volunteer behavior that will help the USA Freedom Corps and
others engaged in supporting volunteer service to evaluate their impact. To
date, sample sizes for evaluating volunteer service trends have been relatively
small, and reliable annual comparisons have been difficult to make. This new
volunteer service indicator will set a new standard for research in this field.
We have collaborated with leaders in the United Kingdom and Canada on this
effort, and have had productive discussions with many members of the European
Union on measuring "Social Capital" and fostering civil society.
This new research and our continuing efforts through the USA Freedom Corps
are a priority of President Bush's administration, and will continue to be as
long as there are human needs to be addressed through kindness and compassion.
Each night in communities across the United States and around the world,
children go to bed hungry or in a home that does not provide adequate shelter.
Each morning people awake without clean water to drink. And each day, men and
women go unprotected from or untreated for diseases and disorders that might be
prevented, treated or cured. These are needs known in every community. And
they are needs that must be addressed not only by governments, but also through
the time and the care of volunteers.
The USA Freedom Corps will continue in its efforts to engage every man,
woman and child in the United States in service to our neighbors. We hope to
learn lessons from your nations about how you are cultivating volunteer service.
In addition, through our efforts we might also help other nations looking for
ways that their leaders and their governments can become involved in harnessing
the time and talents of their people in volunteer service. We would look
forward to sharing what we learn in our efforts to support research and
measurement at the national level; to help establish and encourage the adoption
of effective practices for using volunteers; and to make volunteer service a
part of the structure and function of every school, business and community
across this country. We would also welcome the opportunity to be joined by
other government leaders around the world who are willing to make a call to
service that resonates across their communities as it is doing in the United
States now.
We can all look to the United Nations Volunteers program as a model for our
own future endeavors. Since 1970, the United Nations Volunteers program has
worked on issues ranging from agriculture to education. Each year, 5,000 UN
volunteers from 150 countries work to improve communities around the world.
They include a young woman using her time to create an online resource library
for children with disabilities and their families, a man serving as a drug
prevention counselor, and a woman bringing compassion and food to victims of
natural disasters. Each one of these UN Volunteers is a beacon of hope.
I thank the United Nations for this opportunity to address you today to
discuss the dedication and impact of millions of Americans who are improving our
country and whose compassion extends beyond its boundaries. I also thank the
United Nations for its support for and commitment to the United Nations Year of
the Volunteers. The 123 nations that created committees to promote volunteer
service are testaments to its success, but there is more to do. I hope this
important discussion will be a milestone in a worldwide effort to make a
difference in the lives of others through volunteer service. Each of us must
continue asking ourselves what Martin Luther King, Jr. has called "Life's most
persistent and urgent question"? "What are you doing for others?" Thank you.
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